What You Can Do?

What You Can Do?

by Michael T. Collins, D.V.M.

How can the dairy industry tackle Johne’s disease head-on?
Here’s a right-to-the-point summary.

Veterinarians
• Become a Johne’s certified veterinarian. This task is done easily and affordably by on-line training programs http://vetmedce.vetmed.wisc.edu/JDVCP/
• Educate clients about Johne’s.
• Encourage all dairy herd clients to have a Risk Assessment and Management Plan (RAMP) conducted for their herds, file that RAMP with the appropriate state’s Johne’s disease coordinator (DJC), and update it annually.
• Establish long-term, consistent, cost-effective Johne’s disease control programs for client herds with moderate to high infection rates, such as those with more than 5 percent adult cattle ELISA-positive.

Cattle dealers and sale barns
• Be part of the solution, not the problem. Move Johne’s disease test-positive cattle only to slaughter.
• Merchandise only test-negative cows or heifers from test-negative herds.

Milk processors
• Encourage all herds supplying milk to know their Johne’s disease test status, and have a RAMP in place.
• Offer financial incentives to owners of test-negative herds. For example, consider paying for the costs of testing herds annually or consider offering premiums for milk from test-negative herds.

Registered breeders
• Document whether your herd is low-risk for Johne’s. You have a moral and ethical obligation to sell cattle, embryos, and semen from disease-free animals. You should take positive steps to verify whether your herd is not M. paratuberculosis-infected, and you should seek official government designation as being at some level (designated 1 through 4) in the Voluntary Bovine Johne’s Disease Control Program. See the USDA website for detailed information: www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_diseases/johnes/intro_herd-list....

• If you learn you have an infected herd, you should work to eradicate Johne’s from the herd using strategies that are more aggressive and, consequently, more expensive than those for other dairy herds.

• Encourage breed organizations to phase in rules to limit the likelihood that infected cattle are bought and sold in breed association-sanctioned sales.

Educators and consultants
• Teach dairy students and your clients to be proactive about Johne’s disease control. This includes determining whether a herd is infected, then seeking qualified veterinary advice and implementing the proper control program.